Taking cognisance of the building collapse incident of Khan Market due to illegal construction work, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Thursday directed the owner either to secure the building by removing the structural defects or face demolition.
The agency has given seven days’ time. The partial collapse on the first floor of the building had resulted in the second floor caving in. The ground floor, which houses a bank, has also developed fissures.
The agency denied having granted any kind of permission to the owner of the building for its renovation, which partially collapsed in Khan Market, the most expensive retail chain in the country. The civic body rather claimed it had issued a notice to the building’s owner well in advance ordering discontinuation of any unauthorised work being carried out in it. Meanwhile, the agency has also listed the owner as a defaulter.
“We had information about renovation work going on in the building and hence, had issued a notice to the owner on Monday itself. Our engineers had inspected the building on Tuesday but there were no signs of work being done. It was in the night that they had removed the beam on the first floor and carried out other changes, which led to a major structural defect,” said Director (Project and Welfare) of NDMC, OP Mishra.
Meanwhile, sources in the Council said that the owner of the building, Manju Madan, owes NDMC dues of over a crore. “The owner in this case has been a repeat defaulter. She had applied for mutation a couple of years ago. To clear that we had to check all the dues, and it was found that she owes the civic body Rs 1.8 crore for misuse and damage. She had then brought a court order for mutation in which the condition was clearly stated that the amount would be submitted after that,” sources said. In this case, misuse was done first by using the first floor for commercial purpose rather than residential, and damage was caused by taking extra space in the area, an official added.
A case has been registered under Section 288, 336 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Tughlaq Road Police Station. Police have also written a letter to NDMC asking their structural engineer to inspect the building.
While talking to The Pioneer, Madan claimed that the NDMC just plastered a notice on the wall of the property after the collapse was reported. “The dues are only of Rs 1.25 crore and it is arbitrarily decided by the NDMC. It is the case with almost all retail properties at Khan Market. Our engineer will visit the site on Friday and the next course of action will be decided after assessing the damage,” she said, adding that renovation was being carried out by the tenant.